Swedish obscurist three-piece Saturnalia Temple have announced an April 7 North American release for their sophomore outing, To the Other. For those who heard their 2011 debut LP, Aion of Drakon, it’s likely a date worth marking on the calendar, the trio’s consuming aural darkness and wash of echoing tone set an atmosphere that went beyond cult rock and into a drearier facet of doom. I was fortunate enough to see them at Roadburn in 2012, and they conjured an immersive swirl even on stage, where one might expect a rawer presentation. Very cool band. They’ve toured in the US since then, and one imagines they’ll be back sooner or later in support of To the Other.

For now, the album release date, tracklisting, cover and detailed whatnots follow here, fresh off the PR wire:

SATURNALIA TEMPLE set release date for new AJNA OFFENSIVE album

Today, The Ajna Offensive sets April 7th as the North American release date for Saturnalia Temple’s highly anticipated second album, To the Other. Saturnalia Temple is black magic metal, a dark spiritual vortex rooted in heavy and hypnotic sounds, a pure voice of the Draconian magical tradition now further harnessed with To the Other. As a band that moves intently and without compromise, this recording and production was done in their own studio, Sitra Ahra, located in the forests outside Uppsala, Sweden.

Since its release, Saturnalia Temple’s critically acclaimed Aion of Drakon debut took the band to numerous major festivals throughout Europe, including Roadburn, Hell’s Pleasure, and Heavy Days in Doomtown, as well as on tours in both the U.S. and Europe. The strong occult and dark magical backbone is more prevalent than ever on To the Other, and as a band that actually started before the current “occult rock” trend, there are no fetishistic hoods, blood, or pentagrams. To The Other is instead a relentless journey through the downfall of the world and the rise of the individual striving against the grain.

As a title, To The Other signifies that it is a gift from the band to both the Other Side and to all that is in the shadows, the other side of existence, that which has been neglected by the everyday world of light. American drummer Tim Call (Alderbaran, Howling Wind, Nightfell) brings his experience and power to Saturnalia Temple on this recording. The cover art was created by Manuel Tinnemans (The Devil’s Blood, Deathspell Omega, Necros Christos). That cover, as well as tracklisting, are as follows:

Tracklisting for Saturnalia Temple’s To the Other 1. Intro 2. ZazelSorath 3. To The Other 4. Snow Of Reason 5. March Of Gha’agsheblah 6. Black Sea Of Power 7. CrownedWithSeven 8. Void

The Latin title of Swedish classic heavy rockers The Tower‘s full-length debut, Hic Abundant Leones, translates to “here are many lions.” A warning. Likewise, one might take a listen to the three-minute track “Exile” from The Tower‘s first outing for Bad Omen (North American distro via Prosthetic) and take it as a sign of what the record itself has in store. Just as a lion isn’t the only thing that can kill you in the jungle, so too does Hic Abundant Leoneshave a deceptively multi-pronged attack, and while “Exile” gives a solid demonstration of the Uppsala four-piece’s retro vibes and penchant for lyrical references — you’ll note appearances from The Doormouse and Queen of Hearts, à la both Jefferson Airplane and Alice in Wonderland — it’s by no means a complete overview of the album’s nine-track/48-minute span.

Immediate comparisons to Graveyard will be made for “Exile,” thanks in part to the bluesy vocal cadences of frontman Erik, but The Tower are more push than boogie, ultimately, and as cuts like “Lucy,” “Moonstoned” and the closing eponymous cut “The Tower” range past six minutes each — the latter clocking in at 11:41 to serve as the longest on Hic Abundant Leones and a companion piece to the Beatles-references in “Lucy” — the band seem to be pushing against such convenient assignations. Still, with their warmth of tone and natural, live-sounding spaciousness, the guitars of August, bass of Viktor and drums of Tommie, not to mention the nods in the lyrics to Baby Boomer greats, Hic Abundant Leonesputs forth a heavy ’70s loyalism that comes through on just about every level of their presentation.

They not only acknowledge this in the songs themselves, but even unto their bio, which follows a timeline beginning in 1938 and carrying the band through the ’70s and into 2012, when they reportedly emerged following rumors of the end of the world with — what else? — the demo that led to this album. Good times.

Hic Abundant Leonesis due out April 15 on Bad Omen Records. Preorders are available now. More info from the aforementioned bio follows the premiere of “Exile” below.

Please enjoy:

The Tower, “Exile”

“It was back in 1938 that the brothers Erik and August and their friend Viktor migrated south. They left the small village in the northern forests where they grew up for the big city and the university, to study the science of harvesting the earth. On the fields beside the burial mounds in old Uppsala they met Tommie, a Soviet refugee. He showed them his sole possession, a blues vinyl from 5300 BC, suspecting that it would fit their melancholy northern souls. The four sat down in a barn and played a blues jam which lasted until 1945, when the war ended and the post-apocalyptic nuclear winter began…”

Sorting facts from the fantasy of the band’s complex mythology proves onerous; the quartet bonded during “long, all-night rehearsals in an old vicarage outside of Uppsala” and “began as some kind of personal quest for us but once we realised that we had a gospel we started preaching it. It is not something new. It is as ancient as the Sumerian blues records played by the Dionysos cults of the Postapocalyptic Era. Moreover, there have always been prophets of this gospel: wrayed Indians, electric shamans, crazy horses, black skinheads, exhumed singers, diddlying sheriffs, mean lick hookers, third eye girls, many a stooge, all-man brothers, Birmingham attendants of the Sabbath, and many, many more.”

Allegedly splitting in the 70s, they returned to the Tower in 1983, where they remained until 2012 – “when rumours of the end of the world enticed them to leave”. They recorded a demo (soon pressed to 12″ by Dybbuk Records) before cutting this mystical long-player. “The days in the studio were smooth. The loveable Joona Hassinen, who we recorded with, made us feel very comfortable, as if we were rehearsing in our ‘tower room’.”

And what is the significance of that peculiar title? “We saw it written on an ancient map of the (then known) world. It literally means ‘here are lions in abundance’ and was used by the cartographer to designate a uncivilised, wild and dangerous territory. When applied to Northern Scandinavia it becomes very weird, because there are no lions here, but this only furthers the poetry by making the lions mythical. The record is such a territory. So is the place where we rehearse. And stages we play on, and the vistas of our minds, the future and the past; the unknowns we want to explore and yet, paradoxically, also the regions where we feel the most at home.”

Swedish trad metal/doomers Noctum will release their Metal Blade debut, Final Sacrifice, on Oct. 29. In accordance with the bylaws and procedures of such events, the Uppsala four-pice have begun to drop hints as to where the follow-up to 2010’s The Seance and 2011’s The Fiddler EP might take them, alluding to a horror narrative running throughout the songs as well as actually going so far to release one of those songs for free stream and download through Metal Blade‘s Soundcloud. You can hear that following the info below, freshly dragged in from the PR wire.

Boogie:

NOCTUM Reveal Album Artwork and Track Listing for New Full-Length Album Final Sacrifice

Available October 29th on Metal Blade Records

Swedish rockers NOCTUM have confirmed an October 29th release date for their Metal Blade Records debut Final Sacrifice. Today the artwork and track listing have been revealed. The cover art was painted by Timo Ketola (Sunn o))), Arktau Eos) and fits perfectly with the album’s raw, natural sound.

In the town of Uppsala, Sweden in the year 2009 a band called Séance was formed. Moving at breakneck speed the band formed in September, recorded a two-song demo after adding guitarist Per Wikström to the lineup in October, and by November had changed their name to NOCTUM. Within those three months, the band signed an LP deal with High-Roller Records, and a CD deal with Stormspell Records.

NOCTUM’s debut album, The Séance, was released in September 2010 via High-Roller and in December by Stormspell. The band finally embarked on their first European tour in July of 2011, and followed that up with a new EP, The Fiddler.

By August of 2011, NOCTUM created enough buzz in the underground to gain the attention of Metal Blade Records, which led to a new worldwide record deal.

With a new record deal in place with a global label, NOCTUM spent the majority of 2012 refining their sound and writing new songs. Their search for original and interesting material led them to a heavier and darker sound. The progression came very naturally for the band and differs from the typical 70’s vibe. The new material successfully evokes a heaviness and emotion one might not expect from a “retro” sounding band.

Noctum toured Europe again in 2012, and then welcomed the addition of drummer Fredrik Jansson after Gustaf’s departure. Jansson, who spent time in Witchcraft, Count Raven, and Abramis Brama, was added to the lineup in time to record Final Sacrifice in April 2013.

Final Sacrifice is a fictional horror story where each song communicates a portion of the overall narrative. The “final sacrifice” is like a red thread that ties the songs together and is the concept behind the art. Final Sacrifice is an analog piece of art in both audio and visual aspects.

Final Sacrifice Track Listing: 1. Conflagration 2. Liberty in Death 3. Resurrected in Evil 4. Deadly Connection 5. Void of Emptiness 6. The Revisit 7. A Burning Will 8. Temple of the Living Dead 9. Azoth

As much as the summer belongs to fuzzy heavy psych in my mind, the winter belongs to doom. The slow march to frostbitten oblivion. Darker, shorter days and that feeling that there’s no way out of the cold. Fuck yeah.

Hailing from the frozen recesses of Uppsala, Sweden, the appropriately-monikered four-piece Anguish make their debut this week on Dark Descent Records with the full-length, Through the Archdemon‘s Head, a collection of traditionally-paced doom that brings in elements of cultish and blackened metal, most notably in a pronounced Celtic Frost vocal influence, but in the music as well. It’s dark, and morose, and hopeless. Perfect for January.

In fact, if you suffer from seasonal affective disorder, I’m gonna go ahead and recommend you don’t stream the track “Lair of the Gods” from Through the Archdemon’s Head using the player below, because by the time you get to the second or third grunt, it might just be enough to make you jump out that window you’ve been eying all afternoon. Everyone else, if you’ve got any hope left to lose, this is about as good a way to see it go as I can think of.

Check out “Lair of the Gods” from Anguish, and enjoy:

Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!

Anguish is J. Dee on vocals, David and Kribbe on guitar and Ralle on drums. Through the Archdemon’s Head is available now on Dark Descent Records. For more info, check out the band’s page on Thee Facebooks or the label’s site.